A cooling device of this type is already known (EP-A-0 483 058), having hollow bodies as cooling ribs. Its manufacture is relatively complex.
Another type of cooling device is known from DE-PS 25 02 472. Here, the rib-like cooling elements are made of aluminum plates, the ends of which are each pressed into parallel slots in the base plate. The slot walls have projections and indentations so that the cooling elements are firmly fixed after being pressed into the slots. The manufacture of this kind of heat sink is quite complex.
Furthermore, it is known from DE-PS 35 18 310 and EP-OS 0 483 058 that individual rib-like cooling elements can be fixed firmly in the base plate by pressing the intermediate web between the slots in the base plate against the wall of the cooling elements after the ends of the latter have been inserted, thereby reducing the width of the slots. It is recommended that the outer surfaces of the cooling elements, in the form either of plates or of hollow bodies, be given elevations and indentations so that the individual cooling elements can be better fixed in the base plate.
Moreover, it is known from DE-OS 41 06 437 to make cooling elements from thin wires. The individual wires are bent into a meander such that in-each case one and the same wire constitutes an integral part of a large number of cooling elements; here a large number of such wires is arranged one behind the other in order to form rib-like structures. The thin wires are connected to the base plate by means of a metal joint. It is also known to blow a flow of coolant from above onto the rib-shaped structure consisting of the plurality of cooling wires.
It is also known (EP-PS 0 123 795) that individual cooling elements of cuboid cross-section can be made by obliquely cutting them out of a block which is itself cuboid. an Milling grooves are provided in the block from both face ends in such a way that the cross-section of the work piece's remaining material is given a meandering form. Here, too, manufacture is relatively complex.
Further, it is known from DE-GM 92 14 061 and 93 02 754 that the cooling elements can be amalgamated into one package by joining one end of each of the cooling ribs to form a plate which, by means of a heat conducting paste, for example, is in turn in contact with the base plate comprising the electronic components such as semi-conductor elements or thyristors.
Furthermore it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 1, 830,375 to fit ribbon-shaped meanders to both outer surfaces of a flat hollow tube and to fix them by means of a wire spiral.
Finally, it is known from WO87/02443 that the base of the web portion of U-shaped profiles can be welded onto a base plate in such way that the material of the profiles alloys itself to that of the base plate.